Post by mustelidmusk on Jul 28, 2008 9:04:36 GMT -5
MORE on taurine....
--Here's some more info on taurine from the following page...
www.exotichobbyist.com/NaturalFerret.html
"...Nutrient availability must be considered as well; cats fed a diet of whole ground rabbit became taurine-deficient after a period of time, even though fresh rabbit contains sufficient taurine levels for felines. Storage and preparation of prey diets (and cooked, processed diets as well!) may degrade or render unavailable some essential nutrients, so a high quality vitamin and mineral supplement, supplementation of amino acids such as taurine and carnitine, and appropriate supplementation of essential fatty acids will provide a margin for error in diet composition. This is less crucial in ferrets fed fresh whole prey diets, and Dr. Brown actually says that such diets do not require supplementation..."
----a direct quote from the following page.... from Dr. Loise Bauck
www.weaselwords.com/page/ferret_art032.php
"...According to the investigators at the Toronto Zoo, the apparent requirements for amino acids (relative amounts) in the black-footed ferret are substantially similar to those of other carnivores. For example, arginine deficiency had been reported in ferrets while taurine deficiency has not. Taurine problems have been studied in the cat, but have not been described in the ferret.
Because dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart problem, has been reported in ferrets, some researchers have become interested in the role of taurine in the ferret's diet. Feline cardiomyopathies sometime respond to taurine supplementation, but this effect apparently has not been seen in the ferret. Taurine generally is present in premium ferret rations, even though it usually is not listed as a separate ingredient...."
Is all this confusing?
Heck yes!!!
This is all the more reason to feed variety, including heart meats, which sometimes can be difficult to find, depending on where you live.
If you're feeding a freeze-dried raw or frozen, ground diet, and you find yourself going for several weeks at a time without feeding dark chicken meat, heart meat, or or some taurine-fortified commercial treat/kibble, I recommend having a bottle of 500 mg taurine capsules in the house.
The following is from the Catnutrition.org site. This is the recommendation if your ground food is frozen for 2 or more weeks...
"..It is also not a bad idea to sprinkle extra Taurine from a capsule on the food as you're serving it two or three times a week, just to be certain your cat is getting plenty of this critical amino acid..."
So, this is my recommendation, and it's what I do when I cannot provide fresh hearts during the week.
I also read somewhere that synthesized taurine (the supplements in capsules) is supposed to be as readily bio-available as the stuff in meats. This is not true for all syntheized supplements.
-jennifer
--Here's some more info on taurine from the following page...
www.exotichobbyist.com/NaturalFerret.html
"...Nutrient availability must be considered as well; cats fed a diet of whole ground rabbit became taurine-deficient after a period of time, even though fresh rabbit contains sufficient taurine levels for felines. Storage and preparation of prey diets (and cooked, processed diets as well!) may degrade or render unavailable some essential nutrients, so a high quality vitamin and mineral supplement, supplementation of amino acids such as taurine and carnitine, and appropriate supplementation of essential fatty acids will provide a margin for error in diet composition. This is less crucial in ferrets fed fresh whole prey diets, and Dr. Brown actually says that such diets do not require supplementation..."
----a direct quote from the following page.... from Dr. Loise Bauck
www.weaselwords.com/page/ferret_art032.php
"...According to the investigators at the Toronto Zoo, the apparent requirements for amino acids (relative amounts) in the black-footed ferret are substantially similar to those of other carnivores. For example, arginine deficiency had been reported in ferrets while taurine deficiency has not. Taurine problems have been studied in the cat, but have not been described in the ferret.
Because dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart problem, has been reported in ferrets, some researchers have become interested in the role of taurine in the ferret's diet. Feline cardiomyopathies sometime respond to taurine supplementation, but this effect apparently has not been seen in the ferret. Taurine generally is present in premium ferret rations, even though it usually is not listed as a separate ingredient...."
Is all this confusing?
Heck yes!!!This is all the more reason to feed variety, including heart meats, which sometimes can be difficult to find, depending on where you live.
If you're feeding a freeze-dried raw or frozen, ground diet, and you find yourself going for several weeks at a time without feeding dark chicken meat, heart meat, or or some taurine-fortified commercial treat/kibble, I recommend having a bottle of 500 mg taurine capsules in the house.
The following is from the Catnutrition.org site. This is the recommendation if your ground food is frozen for 2 or more weeks...
"..It is also not a bad idea to sprinkle extra Taurine from a capsule on the food as you're serving it two or three times a week, just to be certain your cat is getting plenty of this critical amino acid..."
So, this is my recommendation, and it's what I do when I cannot provide fresh hearts during the week.
I also read somewhere that synthesized taurine (the supplements in capsules) is supposed to be as readily bio-available as the stuff in meats. This is not true for all syntheized supplements.
-jennifer
